Jolla announces Android launcher for Sailfish OS

You'll be able to pop the gesture-friendly Sailfish onto your Android device as a launcher or an OS replacement

The folks at Finland-based Jolla announced that their mobile OS Sailfish is now commercially available for distribution after hitting their 1.0 release and will soon be available as a launcher for Android. For those unfamiliar, Sailfish uses a lot of what was left behind by MeeGo, an operating system built by Nokia before they went all-in with Windows Phone.

They've adapted it to run Android apps not unlike BlackBerry 10's set-up and what Windows Phone is reportedly considering, which is an experience Jolla claims to have polished since a limited release in November. For those that have a spare Android device kicking around and are looking for more than a launcher, Sailfish can work on popular Android-based hardware, including Samsung, Nexus, and Sony handsets.

Besides the Android integration the OS itself looks very slick, full of gestures and menus tucked just past the edge of the screen. Check out the demo video below for a closer look. The folks at Jolla are aiming to update the OS with features and fixes every two months, thanks in no small part to open source contributors. Even though the focus is on the software here, Jolla is currently negotiating with partners in Russia, India, and Hong Kong to sell their device in new geographies.

Where is the menu setting to turn off the ANNOYING blinking notification light? I wont even try it until that is solved. Otherwise it looks and acts like every other smartphone. Good luck Jolla. You are going to need it.

Here's the beauty of this project: if you want that, go to together(dot)jolla(dot)com and tell them. The developers of Jolla and Sailfish are building the OS with the users and all the updates address either bugs they found, things they wanted to add or stuff the users request.
That alone is worth my time if you ask me. I don't remember Apple or Google ever asking users what they wanted and Microsoft has a "UserVoice" that is completely ignored. So if Jolla listens and DOES (and they have proven to do both) it's worth the try, at least.

If you don't like the launcher, you can install the full Sailfish Os on your phone. Jolla said that they are going to support all existing android phones. Anyway if you want to know about Jolla check em out here www.thejollablog.com

I'd be interested to try it out. It seems that it would make more sense as an Android launcher and not a full fledged OS to bring to market. Android owns the mobile market and Apple picks up most the scraps while what little is left is largely consume by Microsoft. I like the under dog but the market is largely set for mobile OS platforms. Even Samsung's attempt to abandon Android with their Linux based Tizen is dead more or less in the truce Google & Samsung more or less made in recent months.

I'm keeping a close eye on the folks at Nok...Jolla.
First because they are building the OS WITH the users and based on their feedback and requests.
Second because it's a refreshing OS that is already more advanced than Windows Phone in many aspects (well, at least until WP8.1).
Third because I have a big feeling that "Jolla" isn't a company that will last past 2016. Why? Because "Nokia". Just think about it:
Jolla was created and is made of ex-Nokia employees that left the company when Eflop decided to burn down MeeGo and the millions Nokia and Intel had invested in it.
Jolla was FUNDED by Nokia. Yes. Nokia was the one that gave their ex-employees the money to start it.
Jolla runs HERE services, which belong to...Nokia. The license they have is probably a facade. Jolla as a start-up doesn't have the financial power to actually pay for HERE. Which means, again, Nokia is facilitating it.
What is Jolla? A Devices and Services company. You know, the same thing that Nokia is selling to Microsoft but in a smaller scale.
Jolla also uses a lot of Nokia patents and will likely add some more once Nokia's proprietary ones stop being exclusive to Nokia phones because of the deal with MS.

There's just too much Nokia at Jolla. Too much for the company to remain as it is for long. I think that there's a considerable chance that, come 2016, Nokia buys Jolla and puts their ex-employees back in their places within Nokia. That way Nokia has successfully reduced their way too big D&S division by selling them to Microsoft (and thus avoiding firing people) and at the same time they've funded and allowed a new D&S, made out of their own ex-employees, to brew and work while they get rid of Microsoft.

As for the future of Sailfish...well, I'm not predicting that much of a disaster. The thing they have going with the "Other Half" technology opens a lot of possibilities and may be one of the next evolutions in the mobile phones scene. Sailfish may become Nokia's new OS...or may well develop in the future into an Android skin altogether.

Either way, I already have a device in mind where I'm putting Sailfish: Nokia X.

wow, that looks like it has a lot of the features of Blackberry in a really well presented ui, I can't wait until something can excite my interest away from Blackberry, so far the competition has been disappointing

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